You Better be Ready, Kuroko!
by suikaneko
Summary: Seirin basketball team is getting together for a weekend vacation after graduation. Eventhough it's their last year, Kagami feels like he still doesn't really know Kuroko, but...isn't the vacation the perfect opportunity for him to do so? /kurokaga kagakuro
1. Chapter 1

Seirin basketball team was going on a vacation, and this time, it was an actual vacation. It was the end of their senior year and the start of summer and, unlike their previous training trips, this was all about relaxation. Kiyoshi, being the carefree spirit he was, decided on a whim to organize the event. He called up Hyuga, who was studying in Tokyo, and asked him if he could round up some of the graduates. The old team captain in him, suddenly awaked by this call to leadership, went to work contacting members. This was not an easy task, seeing as many of the old players were now members of well-known university teams and had busy, rigorous training schedules. However, after some Hyuga-style encouraging, he was able to persuade the members into taking a short weekend vacation that certainly would not disrupt their training too much. After that was accomplished, all that was left was to bring along the recently graduated "first years"…

"Oi! Kagami!", Hyuga jogged up to him after catching a glimpse of his red hair. He had been following a map of Kyoshi's on where to find each of the players, however, he knew he'd find Kagami here, and was glad that he disregarded Kiyoshi's advice to go to Kagami's house.

"Hyuga? I didn't know you liked burgers! I've never seen you here before…oi shouldn't you be at university?" Kagami was surprised to see his old teammate and even more so to find out that he might also like burgers! What a shocking revelation!

Hyuga sighed a little. It seems that Kagami hadn't changed much, especially in the appetite department. Also, he was as fiery and passionate as ever. He chuckled it off, "Haha, I'm not much of a fan of burgers myself…but that's not important," he said as his glasses glared over, a cold wind swept through. "I'm here to ask you to attend a weekend summer vacation with the old team members." His body language gave off the subtle context of "you better come, you don't fucking know how much work I put into getting all of you idiots together." Kagami quirked an eyebrow at the sudden eerie atmosphere and shrugged, "I guess I wouldn't mind getting to see everyone again."

Hyuga sighed in relief. Now that he had Kagami on board, there was just one more person left to ask. "We'll be leaving May 21st, meet us in front of the High School. Okay? Hey…do you know where I could find Koroko though? He's the only person left that I have to ask…and I can't seem to find him anywhere."

"Hello Hyuga-senpai." Kuroko looked up at Hyuga with his usual blank expression. He was holding Tetsuya #2 who still donned a miniature Seirin jersey. He barked happily, recognizing the old captain.

"Gyuaah!" Hyuga couldn't help, but jump back a bit. He nervously pushed up his glasses, feeling a little embarrassed, "H-hello Kuroko. I guess you heard everything I said, so you'll be coming as well?"

"Sure." He replied without hesitation. Hyuga nodded, beginning to regain his composure, "A-Alright! I will be seeing you both May 21st in front of the high school! Be there!" Hyuga glared and then jogged off.

He really should have gotten used to Kuroko appearing without warning, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he almost had a heart attack nearly every time it happened. That little brat…why hadn't he said anything since the beginning? He clenched his fists, but began to loosen them.

Now that he thought about it, it was good to see Kagami and Kuroko were still friends. They had always had a strange relationship, one that he saw blossom on the court, but had never been able to place his finger on outside of a basketball environment. He wondered if they often hung out together after school in the past. What had they been up to? Anyways, he needed to catch the train back to his house! It was getting late!


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami and Kuroko watched as Hyuga sprinted off. Kagami shrugged, "Eh, I guess he had to catch the train, said he didn't like burgers anyway." He stretched his arm over his head as if he was preparing for a big event. The store bell dingled as he pushed into the restaurant, "I'm starved!" he declared. His declaration echoed throughout the small establishment and startled a few of the customers. An older couple turned to each other and whispered, "Foreigner, eh?" They chuckled a little to themselves.

Kagami went up the counter and ordered his usual mountain of burgers. Tetsuya #2 barked, happily awaiting the small portion of burger that he had been trained to expect. The cashier jumped in surprise, suddenly noticing Kuroko and his dog. "Ah! E-excuse me sir, but dogs aren't allowed in the restaurant, please take him outside." Kuroko frowned slightly and looked down at the dog whose tail slowly began to stop wagging.

"I'll meetcha' out there, eh?," Kagami quirked his head towards the door. Kuroko looked back in silent approval and walked outside, Tetsuya #2 began wagging his tail again.

After a few minutes, the bell dingled and Kagami exited with a burger shoved into his mouth.

The two began walking silently as Kagami consumed one burger after another, Tetsuya #2 walked following alongside them. Kagami tossed a burger towards Kuroko, "'Ere ya gah," he muttered through a mouthful of ground beef. "Thank you," he replied before inspecting the burger and neatly unwrapping the top portion. He ripped off a small piece and threw it to the dog that had begun dancing around his feet. Tetsuya #2 jumped and caught the piece in the air. Kuroko took a small bite of the burger for himself.

Tap tap tap tap…mnch…mnchh….footsteps and the sound of eating… they passed the old basketball court where they first met. Kagami glanced over at it recalling Kuroko's words,

"As the shadow of the main actor, I will make you, the light, the number one in Japan."

He had really done it. Kuroko had kept his word; they became the top 2 players in Japan, winning the national championship for Serein and numerous other competitions. They hadn't even lost a game this year. He glanced down at Kuroko. He'd grown a little bit, his arms were more toned…he studied the boy out of the corner of his eye, comparing him to the person he met freshman year. He wondered where Kuroko would be going to school next year, it wasn't something they typically discussed. What was he doing this summer?

Even after all of the time they had spent together, both on the court and off the court, Kagami wasn't sure if he could say he really knew Kuroko. He was still as mysterious as ever.

A flash of blue met his eyes and looked back up at him. Kagami looked away and gulped down his last bite of burger. He guessed that after playing basketball with him all this time, he was able to at the least sense when he was looking at him; it was a little creepy at times honestly. Kagami hesitated to talk. Kuroko, surprisingly, broke the awkward silence. "It will be nice to see all of our friends again."

"Hah! Yeah! I can't wait to show them how strong I've gotten!," Kagami flexed his muscles haughtily, reveling in how much he had improved.

"But, isn't this trip about relaxing?" The blue haired boy inquired.

"Feh! As if we won't be playing basketball with all of us getting together! Ggg….gRAH! I'm getting pumped up just thinking about it!" They came to the intersection where they would part ways. "You better be ready, Kuroko! Don't think you can start relaxing yet, we're going to show them everything we've worked for!" He held out his fist. Kuroko bumped his knuckles against Kagami's and smiled a barely noticeable smirk. Number 2 barked in agreement and the two boys parted ways.


	3. Chapter 3

Kagami walked by himself the rest of the way home, thinking about the upcoming trip. May 21st? That was…Friday and today was Sunday, so 4 days away. Geez. That was soon. Not that he had anything to plan around; it was summer vacation after all. Now that he thought about, he didn't even know where they were going or where they were staying. He shrugged it off, it didn't really matter. He wasn't one for planning ahead anyways. What about Kuroko though? Did he have anything to plan around? Friends? Family? He never did talk much about his family. Actually…he never said anything about them! Kagami tried picturing what Kuroko's family was like…

_He walked up to the door of an average looking apartment. The door was opened by Kuroko who said, "Welcome". Kagami took off his shoes and was then led to the kitchen where a mother, father, and sister were sitting, along with Tetsuya #2. They all had Kuroko's oval, blue eyes, and they all stared at Kagami and said, "Welcome" with the same blank expression. _

"Pfft!" Kagami laughed himself out of his day dream. He hoped that the Kuroko family didn't all act like Kuroko. That would be overwhelming to say the least.

The remainder of his walk home, Kagami entertained himself recalling the mental image of the family of Kuroko clones. "What if they kept forgetting where everyone was? And they showed up to events and scared everyone as a family ahah…they could even form a basketball team hahaha with the dog as a member". Kagami doubled over in front of his apartment thinking of the hilarious family. Clutching his stomach he pushed open the door to his apartment.

"I'm home," he muttered to himself before throwing his bag on the floor. He looked at the empty space, the only piece of furniture being a bed on the floor and a chair. He sat down to take off his shoes, the memories of Kuroko's family fading away and being replaced with his own family. They were still back in America. While he didn't mind living alone, the summers always seemed long without someone to come home to. This one was going to be especially long without the constant team practices enforced by the coach.

He glanced around the apartment and sighed. Getting up, he took off his shirt and threw it on the floor. "I'm hungry…," he said to no one particular.

Talking to himself had become a habit of his from living alone, so had making food. Basketball and cooking were his only two hobbies really. While he would've liked to say he hung out with friends, he never really saw any of the other guys outside of basketball practice. Well, that was except Kuroko. Kuroko always seemed to be there. When Kagami was walking home, grocery shopping, going to the burger place…"What a creepy guy…"

He opened the blinds to one of the windows to let in some light and went to the little kitchen to search in the fridge.

"Kuroko…what does Kuroko like?"

He began pulling out ingredients for fried rice as he pondered the question. He diced some carrots and threw them in the pan with a little bit of oil and left over rice. Watching the grains jump in the pan, he glazed over.

"Dogs? He likes dogs."

He really didn't know anything about him… Tetsuya Kuroko…one of the only people he could possibly call friend. He pressed the rice with a spatula, watching it brown and sizzle. Maybe he would use the vacation as a way to get to know Kuroko better. Yes… He would definitely do that!

The sun shone in the window brightly and Kagami stood determined over his rice that was starting to burn a little, "A new challenge!" he growled with excitement! "You better be ready, Kuroko!" he said echoing his words from earlier as a cloud of smoke blew into his eyes. "Cgh cgh! Shit! It's burning!"

Four days. Just four days away.


	4. Chapter 4

Kagami rolled over in his bed and groaned. What had he been doing? He glanced at a plate topped with stray pieces of rice sitting on the floor. "Hng..." he combed his hair with one hand and dug for his phone under his pillow with the other. Squinting the sleep out of his eyes, he flipped open his phone and checked the time. The phone read, "11:13AM J"

"Hmm..that's not so bad," he thought, starting to sit up in bed. Suddenly his phone chimed, "LET'S FIGHT NOW!" What an annoying ring tone, he kept meaning to change that. It chimed again, "LET'S FIGHT NOW!" Uhhggg. He _really _needed to change that. He opened up his phone to find two text messages.

"Tetsuya Kuroko: Are you coming?" Well, that was vague.

"Junpei Hyuuga: Where. the. Fuck. Are. you? We're about to leave!" Angrier…but still vague to the the tired Kagami. What were they talking about? He looked at his phone again "11:16AM J May 21st"

"EhhHHHH?!" Already? May 21st?! Had four days really passed? Geez summer vacation will really make a guy lose track of time. "GYAAHHhh!" Kagami ran to his folded clothes and threw some in his bag, he grabbed a tooth brush, toothpaste, oh geez you know all that shit. He brushed the counter top of his bathroom sink into his bag. Barely finishing tying his sneakers, he sprinted out the door.

"GYAAAHHhhhh! They better still be there!" He yelled passing an elderly lady who blushed in surprise. "My…youth these days…," she whispered to herself watching him as he sprinted past. Sweat dripping off the ends of his hair, he rounded a corner and started up the hill to the school. His lungs pumped air hungrily in and out of his lungs as his tired muscles began to wake up from the sudden physical activity. Up ahead he saw a small van, "That must be them…!", he thought, pushing himself even harder to get there. Rounding the back of the van and threw open the door, "I'm here!" he yelled panting. His team mates stared back at him in shock.

Kiyoshi smiled, "Wow. How did you manage to get here in only 9 minutes? Quite the record!"

Izuki chuckled to himself, "I'd have to say the time it took you to get here was quite, _brief._"

Hyuuga glared at Kagami, "That's great that you're here and all, but why the hell aren't you wearing pants?"

The other team members looked around, trying to act like they hadn't noticed except for Izuki who was chuckling at his clever pun. Kagami looked down to see his bright red boxers staring up at him. It was a miracle that his junk didn't slip out the entire run here, phew. Goddamn. You know boxers. They do that thing. "What? Never seen a guy go for a jog in his boxers?," Kagami grunted and crawled into the van, digging in his bag for a pair of sweats as he sat down in the back seat. "Good Morning," Kuroko said looking up at Kagami, whose face was flushed. "Shut up," he panted out tugging on his sweatpants.

"Aaalright! Now that we're all… fully clothed, haha let's get going!" Kiyoshi honked the horn in excitement and they started driving. To God knows where, Kagami certainly didn't know.


	5. Chapter 5

The team began to chatter as the van started up.

"Long time no see Furihata!"

"Ahhhh~ it's so great that summer has started…"

"So this girl told me she wanted to steal something from France…"

"Uh-huh…."

"Ahaha, great to see you man! Where're you going to school again?"

"And then I said,you should just _baguette_ and run!"

"Uhhgg Izuki…your puns are as painful as ever…"

"I'm going to Oxford!"

"Dah?! Overseas?!"

The sound of laughter and rowdiness filled the space. Kyoshi was singing in the front seat while he was driving, and Hyuuga was rambling on about some sort of statistics of his University basketball team. Furihata, Fukuda, and Kawahara joked about which schools they would be going to next year, each of them declaring they would be going to big name schools and trying to one up the other. Izuki was telling some terrible jokes to whoever would listen. In this case it was Tsuchida who landed a seat next to him. Mitobe and Koganei chatted about the school year; they had both gone to the same University.

Kagami and Kuroko sat in the backseat of the van. Kuroko was looking out the window while Kagami was just beginning to cool down from his run. He wiped some sweat from his brow, looking out the opposite window, listening casually to the others talking. Kagami soon realized that Kuroko and he were the only ones not deep in conversation.

Ah! His plan! How could he forget! What should he talk to Kuroko about? His family maybe?

"Eh, Kuroko…" this felt a bit awkward, "was your family cool with you taking this trip?"

"They didn't seem to mind."

"….ah I see." He didn't even elaborate, he barely bat an eye, his gaze still fixed outside the window. I guess making conversation with the "invisible 6th player" was going to be more difficult than he initially thought. How did the generation of miracles even do it?

Kagami was determined though! What does Kuroko like? What does Kuroko…like? Dogs!

"I see you didn't bring along that annoying pet of yours, parents wouldn't let you bring him?"

Kuroko perked up a little bit, his shoulders sagging slightly, "They said it would be better if I left him a home."

Kagami jerked back at the sudden display of emotion. Okay seriously, even the slightest, most barely noticeable show of any proof that Koroko was capable of human feelings was mind blowing.

Kagami studdered, "A-ah…well that sucks…I'm sure he'll be waiting for you when you come home though."

He wasn't sure where this conversation was going. To be honest he was glad Kuroko hadn't brought that little beast….dogs scared the shit out of him.

Kuroko turned to face Kagami, "You think so?" A glint of hope shone in his bottomless, ocean blue eyes. He held Kagami's gaze, hanging on for an answer.

Kagami choked on his words and looked away, almost scoffing, "O-of course. I'm sure he's waiting there for you to come back right now!"

The blue haired boy nodded with conviction to himself. Shortly after, however, he slumped against the window, a little cloud of sadness hanging over him, "I should have convinced my parent's to let me bring him. He's probably all alone…"

Had the van always been so quiet? It seemed that everyone's conversations had died down to a quiet whisper in an attempt to try and hear Kuroko and Kagami's conversation. They were just as shocked as Kagami to hear Kuroko hold a conversation that lasted longer than a few sentences and also held some inkling of emotion. Everyone kept their ears perked to see what Kagami would do now, the air of sadness slowly creeping throughout the van.

"A-ah- That's not what I meant, what I mean is… I'm sure he's having fun with your family? He's just gonna be more excited to see you! Cause…ya know…you're his favorite…or whatever. No reason to get upset."

There was a silence as everyone waited to hear Kuroko's response. Kagami glanced back and forth at Kuroko out of the corner of his eye, his heart thumping a little faster than usual.

"I suppose he will have fun with Nana…Thanks Kagami," he said turning back to the window. I think his mood had improved. It was hard to tell. He stared out the window, looking as if he was still thinking about his beloved dog. Kagami sighed a little. Nana…? Was that Kuroko's sister? So he did have a sister after all! Kagami leaned against his window. Everyone slowly started talking again, many of them talking about their families.

Kagami watched as the buildings passed. This plan was going to take a lot of effort. If the vacation continued at this pace, it was going to be more tiring than any basketball practice he had ever had before.


	6. Chapter 6

Before they knew it, they had arrived! Kagami shook his head. It seemed that he had dozed off at some point during the trip. He looked out the window and spotted a small hotel. He could only assume that this would be their destination, seeing as there was nothing else of interest around.

Hm, it was strange…there was a light pressure on his arm…had he fallen asleep on it? He wiggled his arm a little trying to wake it up, but this only caused an odd tickling feeling. He looked down. Light blue hair was mussed up everywhere; Kuroko had fallen asleep against him. Kagami sighed quietly to himself. How Kuroko managed to screw up his hair so much in the short time that he had been asleep was beyond Kagami. He couldn't have even rolled around, how was this even possible?

Amid his pondering of the physics of Kuroko's hair, Kagami found himself staring at the boy. Looking at his body, it was clear that he was a young man, almost an adult, but when you saw his face this close up, he could have been easily mistaken for a young child, especially in his sleeping form. His eyebrows lulled peacefully above his eyes, mouth was slightly agape, a warm cheek squished in an almost goofy manner against Kagami's arm. Dark eyelashes, a small sloping nose, fair skin, supple lips, His breath was steadily blowing out of his nose. Kagami blushed slightly. Kuroko was no doubt attractive.

He shoved his hand into the other boys face, "Wake up. We're almost there," he grunted; the anger in his voice was halfhearted.

Kuroko made a quiet groaning noise that immediately made Kagami feel bad for waking him up in such a rude way. He sounded like a little kid that didn't want to be woken up for school. His blue eyes blinked awake unwillingly. He looked up at Kagami, the light slowly returning to his eyes. His hair stuck out in all directions, his gaze fixed on Kagami. Behind his blank expression you could tell he was maybe a little bit angry.

Kagami stopped scowling for a moment, "Fix your hair" he said brushing the light blue tuffs somewhat in their normal direction. He felt bad for waking him up, but he wasn't very good at apologies. This was as close as he came to them. Kuroko silently fixed his hair as the van pulled into a parking space at the hotel.

Kiyoshi clapped his hands together, "Alright! We're here."

"Oi! This place looks pretty familiar!"

"Didn't we come here for one of our first year training camps?"

Hyuuga chimed in, "The owner remembered us and decided to give us a discount for coming back! Also, I thought it would be nice to relive some old memories. In addition, they have a basketball court and a bath!"

"This place didn't have food though…"

"I thought we could all cook together tonight! Hyuuga and I bought lots of ingredients!," Kiyoshi said smiling.

Kagami got excited, maybe cooking would be a good chance to get to know Kuroko. The team began carrying in their bags and the groceries.


End file.
